In time division duplexing (TDD) mobile communication systems, uplink and downlink transmissions are performed on different time slots of the same frequency spectrum resource respectively. As compared to frequency division duplexing (FDD) systems, TDD systems do not require paired frequencies, having low frequency spectrum and device costs, more flexible uplink and downlink resource configuration, and thus suitable to asymmetric uplink and downlink data transmission data rates, especially to Internet Protocol (IP) data services.
With the development of mobile communication techniques, the requirement for mobile data service traffic is rapidly increasing at a speed doubled every year, and more than 80 percent of data services comes from indoor and hot spot areas. In order to reduce workloads for macrocell networks and make the growth of revenue match with the increase in provided data service traffic, operators need to deploy more cells in indoor and hot spot areas to provide high-speed data services.
The characteristics of TDD make it very suitable for small cells, allowing adaptive changes in uplink and downlink subframe configuration according to the requirement for uplink and downlink traffic smartly, so as to provide higher user data rate experience and higher system usage efficiency. However, in order to cover hot spots, it may be necessary to deploy multiple small cells in an area, and various kinds of interference may occur between adjacent small cells, for example, uplink-downlink interference, uplink-uplink interference, and downlink-downlink interference. Interference coordination is necessary in order to reduce effects caused by the interference. Wherein, uplink-downlink interference is caused by different uplink-downlink subframe configurations employed by adjacent small cells, and the downlink (or the uplink) of a cell may be interfered by the uplink (or the downlink) of an adjacent cell.
However, only uplink-uplink interference and downlink-downlink interference can be handled in the prior art, and it is unable to distinguish uplink-downlink interference and perform interference coordination on uplink-downlink interference.